NYU president tries to rein in rising tuition—and tension

A world-renowned chemist, Andrew Hamilton is also an avid fan of Pittsburgh sports teams.

Andrew Hamilton takes the helm during New York University’s most exciting yet contentious period in recent history. Its popularity and rankings are on a major upswing—last year NYU received 64,000 applications for undergraduate study, the most of any private university. And the school’s budget has been steadily growing as it expands its offerings, reaching nearly $2.9 billion in 2016, up from $2.3 billion five years ago. At the same time, NYU has been battling its neighbors over its aggressive expansion plans in Greenwich Village while facing discontent among the faculty and uproar over the school’s high tuition and relatively low financial aid. Hamilton, a world-renowned chemist, talked to Crain’s about how he plans to take this all on.

What is first on your agenda to tackle?

One of the highest-priority issues for me is affordability. We have already made some short-term adjustments to get a handle on that. We froze room and board for next year and kept tuition increases to the lowest in the last 20 years. Tuition will increase by 2.9%, but the overall cost of attendance for undergrads will increase by only 2%. I have also formed a steering committee to look at cost cutting and alternative pathways for students to get a handle on the cost of attendance.

Combined, NYU's tuition and room and board is the third highest in the U.S., according to Business Insider. Why is that, and are students at NYU paying too much?

If you just compare tuition, you’ll find we’re in the middle of the 50 universities we might consider as our peers. But we are located in one of the most expensive cities in the world. I want to get a handle on room and board, but NYU is tuition-dependent. We do not have a large endowment—per student last year, it was 170th in the U.S.

What about financial aid? Recent government studies show that students on financial aid at NYU pay an average of $25,441 a year compared with roughly $8,000 at Columbia.

In the last 10 years, NYU’s financial-aid budget has increased from $90 million to $300 million. The average total debt for graduates is now below $28,000, from $41,000 in 2009. Fundraising to increase the endowment is a priority. We just passed the $550 million mark of a major fundraising campaign to raise $1 billion for financial aid.

Where does the controversial $6 billion expansion stand? That was a key mission of your predecessor, John Sexton. Is it as important to you?

I don’t know where you got the $6 billion number from. We are involved in a number of major capital projects at NYU, which has less space per student than any other university I have come across.

DOSSIER

AGE 63

PLACE OF BIRTH Guildford, England

RESIDENCE Washington Square

EDUCATION University of Exeter, B.S.; University of British Columbia, M.S.; University of Cambridge, Ph.D.

SPORTS FANATICHamilton is a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates fan, and used to play soccer, rugby and cricket.

GRIPE OF THE MOMENT The way Lin-Manuel Miranda portrays the British in his hit musical Hamilton.

It’s 160 square feet per student, while Columbia has double that number and Yale four times as much. The project at Mercer Street and the renovation of an iconic building in Brooklyn on Jay Street for the Tandon School of Engineering are the two biggest projects going on at the moment. I have no intention of slowing down that momentum.

Will you continue the expansion of the controversial overseas programs?

NYU is committed to being relevant to the times. Global forces are at play everywhere, so for a university to be relevant it must educate students to be able to navigate, lead and contribute to the challenges of the 21st century. NYU has it absolutely right.

You are a professor of chemistry and biophysics. Will you teach at NYU?

I am a professor in the NYU chemistry department but it’s too hard to teach in the classroom with a president’s schedule. Still, I have a lab there—it’s how I stay connected to my subject, to students and to the concerns of the faculty.

What about this job keeps you up at night the most?

The sign of a great university is that there is never enough money. At NYU we have many exciting and very pressing priorities, whether it’s investment in new academic programs or new facilities for students. I want to make sure we can do it all.

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